Audi e-tron Sportback range launches in UK from £79,900

Audi has confirmed UK prices for the e-tron Sportback, which is on sale now. The coupe variant of the brand’s all-electric SUV is priced from £79,900 - though less expensive variants will follow.

Just under 80 grand gets the most powerful 55 quattro model in S line trim. The 55 gets a 95kWh battery pack in combination with a dual-electric motor set-up that brings 402bhp and 664Nm torque. Audi says 0-62mph takes 5.7 seconds, with the top speed capped electronically at 124mph. A maximum range of 278 miles between charges has been confirmed, while the second motor sees boot space drop by 35 litres to 615 litres with seats in place.

Standard equipment on the S line includes 21-inch wheels, gloss black exterior detailing and sports air suspension. Above the 55 quattro S line will be the Launch Edition model. In Sportback trim, it’s priced from £85,900 - £3,590 more than the equivalent conventional SUV version. This gets a different wheel design, still 21-inches in size, a black styling pack, a panoramic sunroof and the e-tron’s ‘virtual door mirrors,’ replacing the regular door mirrors with rear view cameras.

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Audi has previously confirmed that the e-tron Sportback will also gain the less potent 50 quattro powertrain, already available in the standard e-tron. This makes 308bhp, and uses a smaller 71kWh battery, capable of a 216-mile range between charges.

As with the regular e-tron, the Sportback uses an electrified version of the VW Group’s MLB platform, rather than the MEB or PPE platforms that have been developed specifically for electric vehicles.

While coupe-SUVs are often sold as style-driven alternatives to their more conventional counterparts, the e-tron Sportback has an advantage up its sleeve in terms of aerodynamics. That sweeping shape means a low drag coefficient of 0.25Cd, which unlocks up to 6.2 miles of extra range in the case of the 95kWh version of the car.

Other updates – and ones that have been added to the standard e-tron, too – include a battery that can be safely recharged to a marginally higher useable capacity, while the front motor now decouples when not required to help save energy. Audi has also been able to remove one of the cooling pumps to save weight, and the brake regeneration has been strengthened to allow one-pedal driving.